It was all over the news. Eugene Tejada, this young basketball player of the Purefoods PBA Team, met a freak accident on the hardcourt a few nights ago. In a nutshell, he suffered from some spinal injuries that posed awful risks to his basketball career, or even to his future as an ordinary walking individual.
On the way to the hospital, I thought it would be a breeze to give him the cheer pillows me and Aldred got for him. But to be actually standing by his bedside and talking to him crushed me. He is laying flat on the bed with steel bars pulling on his head, him staring at the ceiling with his eyeglasses on, moving his hands once in a while, but with no single movement from the waist down. I told him "Get up, 'gene. We're all rooting for you." To which he replied softly, "No more basketball". Our aunt also said "Remember, Eugene, I took care of you when you were small?" and he said, "Auntie, are you gonna take care of me again?" There you go, a 6-footer fella radiating a little boy's uncertainty.
Now, that one made me cry. He and I don't really go a long way, except for occasional partying and clubbing some nights at the town, and he being a special part of my wedding. But he and Aldred are like brothers. And it's like we're one huge extended family unit that knew no conditions nor boundaries. And so, seeing him like this just doesn't sit well in my scheme of things. I knew about his big dreams. This is one nice young man whose future gleamed of beautiful promises. Will he ever recover fully?
You broke my heart today, 'Gene. Please make my heart whole again. Please get better.
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